Indian Programs: BIA's Management of the Wapato Irrigation Project
RCED-97-124
Published: May 28, 1997. Publicly Released: May 28, 1997.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) management of the Wapato Irrigation Project, focusing on: (1) the key reasons for the project's idle acreage and the steps that can be taken to return these lands to production; (2) the principal reasons why operation and maintenance assessments for the project are past due; and (3) the obstacles that BIA will face in trying to collect the past due operation and maintenance assessments. GAO did not independently verify the data BIA provided on the project's idle acreage and past due assessments.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Interior | To facilitate the leasing of idle trust land, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to develop a process that estimates the fair market rental value for the idle land, taking into account the cost of the rehabilitation required to bring the land back into productive use. |
Closed – Not Implemented
In response to this recommendation, the Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, Senate Committee on Appropriations, through language in Senate Report 105-56, pages 53-54, requested that GAO conduct a comprehensive review of BIA's land appraisal process. On June 30, 1999, GAO published the results of that review, "Indian Programs: BIA Should Streamline Its Process for Estimating Land Rental Values" (RCED-99-165). That report contained three recommendations to improve BIA's appraisal process. This recommendation applied only to land appraisals at the Wapato Irrigation Project and is being closed in light of the three comprehensive recommendations in the more recent report.
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| Department of the Interior | To ensure that the costs of operating and maintaining the project are assessed against acreage that is physically capable of producing crops, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to remove land that is incapable of producing crops from the project's assessable acreage. |
Closed – Implemented
A Land Redesignation Committee has been created to review the designation of certain chronically idle tracks of land within the Wapato Irrigation Project. Based on the committee's review, these tracks may be temporarily or permanently removed from the project's assessable acreage. The Committee is still reviewing specific parcels; however, none have been removed yet. The Committee is focusing on getting these parcels leased rather than having them removed from the project. It may be 3 to 5 years before any chronically idle land is removed from the project's assessable acreage.
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| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should direct the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to apply the past due assessments collected through land sales to the project as required by law and to liquidate the special accounts. |
Closed – Implemented
BIA's Yakama Agency Office has closed the special accounts and transferred the funds to the Wapato Irrigation Project. In total, $108,502.42 was returned to the project, and $2,826.29 was refunded to the payees as the debts these funds had been withheld to cover were subsequently paid by lessees.
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Topics
Debt collectionDebt subject to statutory limitationFair market valueFeesIndian landsIrrigationLand leasesLand managementNative AmericansIrrigation projects